Before you even start implementing any marketing strategies, it’s important to be crystal clear about whom it is you are trying to reach.

Some of the questions you should be able to answer around this include: What is your niche?  Who is your target market and what is it that they want?  What is your message to them?

Often, small business owners are afraid to narrow down their target market for fear that this will limit them. Countless times I have heard people say “my target market is small business owners” or “my niche is really anyone who needs what I offer.”

The truth is, you can’t be everything to everyone, and it is actually easier to market and attract prospects when you focus on a particular group of people. It is also easier for others to refer people to you when they see you as someone who works with a specific group.

To further illustrate, here is a simple example: Instead of “I’m a financial planner,” you could clarify it to say “I’m a financial planner who specializes in families with special needs children.”

Or, instead of “I’m a marketing consultant,” a more descriptive way to say it would be “I’m an online marketing consultant who specializes in social media strategies for coaches.”

Many times, figuring out who it is you want to serve the most involves digging into who it is you are.  Particularly online, in order to create the type of presence that draws people to you, you will need to clearly communicate who you are, what you are about, and why people should take notice.

To figure this out, some of the questions you could ask yourself might be:

• How would I describe the essence of who I am in a single word?

• What are my top three passions related to my work and three that are unrelated to my work?

• What would be three adjectives used to describe my business?

• Who are my best clients or the people who are most likely to benefit from my work?

Those are just some of the questions you can ask to really get clear on who you are professionally, as well as who you are personally.  Try this out and just begin noticing who shows up for you.

Clarifying your niche is a point of “stuckness” for many business owners and it does take a bit work to discover if you aren’t clear on it yet.  But once you have that specific niche narrowed down, reaching them with your marketing becomes a whole lot easier.

What has your experience been in focusing in on a target market?  Is this something that has challenged you in your business?  Let me know in the comments.